Moments
by EclipseIsMyLifeNoMore
Summary: Love isn't just one moment, it's made up of moments. My version of the reunion scene in MoA that Rick left out. Spoilers for PJAO and HoO series. Rated T to be safe. R & R por favor! Percabeth, Frazel, Leper hehe , and Jayna pairings.


So back in December I read Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan in his new series Heroes of Olympus. If you haven't read the PJAO series, read it. But wait until Mark of Athena comes out this fall or you'll be heartbroken and throw SoN at the wall. So I wanted to write a reunion scene and I was thinking, love isn't made of one dramatic moment, it's made up of little moments that make you remember why you fell in love. I don't own any of PJAO or HoO because if I did, things would be **much **different. The plot, however, is mine except for the _**bolded italics**_, that's a portion of page 373 of The Last Olympian.

8 months, 273 days, 6272 hours, 393,120 minutes, and 23,587,200 seconds. That's how long she has missed him. Missed his smile, his laugh, his hugs, his kisses, his _warmth_. She rubs her arms, a reflex nowadays and Piper smiles sadly.

"Last night, he was sleeping and he kept saying 'Reyna' over and over again." Leo glares at Piper and stalks off.

"What's up with him?" Piper asks.

"He likes you. A lot." Piper's mouth pops open and she laughs. She had the same reaction, she just couldn't believe that he liked her back. The first time she kissed him after the chariot race, the first time she _really _kissed him on Mt. St. Helens, the kiss on the beach, the kiss underwater. She still remembers the feel of his muscle under his camp t-shirt, the way it felt when he pulled her closer. She hears yelling and against her better judgement, puts on her cap and sneaks over to the _Argos II_ galley where Piper is throwing things at Leo.

"You know I like him!"

"And you know I like you! So why can't you forget about him already? It's not fair!"

"What are you talking about, Leo?" Piper throws up her hands in frustration, looking for something else to throw.

"It's not fair that he can ignore you and I'm standing," He pauses and corners against a cabinet. "right here." He murmurs, right before he uses the silent second that follows to softly kiss Piper. Annabeth backs out of the room as she wipes a tear from her eye.

_ "Annabeth! Stop and hear me out!" He yells and she reaches for her cap but he snatches it from her and throws it across the Poseidon cabin. _

_ "Percy!" she reprimands, "I don't want to listen! I saw it all!" His jaw tightens and he throws his arms around her as she thrashes and curses at him in Greek until he kisses her hard. She doesn't want to but she feels her self relaxing. They pull back for air and he gently runs his thumb over her swollen bottom lip, making her blush. _

_ "I don't want to be a god. They've asked me twice but I'll say no every time." _

_ "But you can only say no so many times before they persuade you. It's a huge opportunity." She murmurs, her fists clenching. This shouldn't even be an argument. The gods hardly ever ask twice and they won't ask again, and he gave it up. But they're fighting and she's trying to push him into this because that's what a good girlfriend would do. He tilts her chin up and rests his forehead on hers. _

_ "I want to stay with you. I don't immortality if I don't have you." _

"Annabeth!" Jason's voice from the bow of the ship pulls her from the memory of her and Percy's first big fight, a week and 2 days after they started dating. She heads over to Jason.

"What's up?" She asks and he shrugs. She sits down next to him and stares out over the land below.

"Do you think they'll remember me?" He chokes out finally and she hears the pain and uncertainty in his voice as sure as if she had said it herself.

"They didn't get their memories wiped, only you and—they'll remember you." She wants to cry. When did she start missing him so much that she couldn't even say his name without falling apart? She was supposed to be a strong warrior, like her mother.

"Do you ever worry that things will be different when we get there?" And she nods because if she opens her mouth, she _will_ cry. She has wondered that every day. She can't have anything change because it was perfect the way it was. As they sit there, he talks. She finds herself smiling because she and Percy first started dating, he would babble to fill the nervous silences until she resorted to shutting him up...with her lips. Needless to say, he caught on quickly and began to talk more just so she would kiss him again. She rolls her eyes at the vision of a smirking Percy in her head and sees Jason staring at her with Thalia-blue eyes.

"You space out a lot. Are you thinking about him?" He asks and she nods.

"I was just thinking about when we first started dating." Her laugh is dry, not full, not happy like it is when she's laughing with him. He nods and then pats her on the shoulder before going off somewhere. She wasn't listening when he told her where he was going. Her eyes are fixed on a star, _their_ star.

_ Her head is on his chest and they're pressed together under the midnight sky. He had convinced Rachel to bribe the harpies so he and Annabeth could sneak out for their two month anniversary. It was winter break, but because of the camp's weather, it was like summer. _

_ "Annabeth, I love you." _

_ "I love you Percy." She murmurs back. They refuse to tack on the "too" at the end because they don't want to feel like their saying it as a reply. They say it because they __**mean**__ it. She can tell he's thinking hard about something so she waits until he finally gets the guts to spit it out._

_ "Let's swear to be together forever." He says, his voice low and quiet._

_ "Alright. I swear to be with you forever and ever." Her laugh is quiet and breathy. She grins up at him expecting to see his smile but instead he'd frowning._

_ "I'm serious. Let's swear on the Styx." She sits up abruptly and stares open mouthed at him._

_ "Percy that's a big thing. It can't be undone." She admonishes._

_ "I know that," he frowns even more, "but I don't want something to happen or you to leave." _

_ "Percy..."She's about to launch into a massive speech and he knows it, so he kisses her desperately, in an attempt to show her how much he truly needs her. Soon his hands are splayed on her back underneath her shirt while the other is threaded in her hair, preventing her from pulling away. Finally, __**finally**__, she manages to gain control of her emotions._

_ "Percy, stop!" He pulls back in surprise and at the sight of her disheveled appearance, almost dives back in again, but she jerks his chin up so his sea-green eyes meet her stormy gray ones. _

_ "Percy. I love you. But I also know that we're getting too far ahead of ourselves. I don't want to but we need to relax. I won't leave you. Ever. No. Matter. What. I'll always find you, even if you get lost." She says the last part teasingly, not realizing 7 hours later, when he was discovered missing, how true those words would be. And how stupid she was for not making that vow. _

She pulls herself up and away from the deck and the memory of their last night together and makes herself sleep. At 6:36 AM approximately, she is woken up by Leo announcing that they've reached Camp Jupiter and are preparing to land. She resists the urge to puke out of sheer nervousness. 'What if he doesn't remember her? What if he's found someone else? What if they've sent him on a quest and—STOP IT.' She commands herself as she climbs up onto the deck of the airship where Leo and Piper are standing rigidly, hands locked tight and Jason is pacing, looking like a male version of his sister. As they land, they disembark and find themselves surrounded by a sea of silent Romans. It is still until a faint cry comes up from the back of the crowd and a girl sprints into Jason. They're intertwined on the ground and the Romans shift and turn various shades of red. But Annabeth is scanning the crowd for her black haired, green eyed, Seaweed Brain. She doesn't see him and she wants to collapse.

"ANNABETH!" His voice. She stops breathing and her head snaps up from her view of the ground as she sees a boy whose face is lit up with so much joy that he competes with the sun. She runs faster than she's ever run before and they melt together in the middle of the Roman camp. He's kissing her everywhere and she's trying to kiss him back while crying hysterically at the same time. He feels wetness on his cheeks and he's not sure if it's him or both of them.

They stay like this until a girl clears her throat loudly. Annabeth glares at her until Percy explains Hazel is just a friend who's been waiting to meet the famous Annabeth Chase. And with that, they are reunited and along with a red, oddly silent Jason, whose hands are permanently attached to Reyna's hand and shoulder, they go into the Senate House to discuss the two camps and their apparent need to cooperate. Octavian is loud and obnoxious—as always—and Annabeth has taken to running her hand up and down Percy's thigh causing him to turn an Apollo's sacred cow's red. He manages to speak somewhat normally though and his voice only cracks twice which is a miracle in his opinion. The senators and praetors finally decide to work with Camp Half-Blood to defeat the coming threat, and as soon as they're dismissed Annabeth is dragging Percy around telling him all about the Roman architecture and soon she demands to see his cabin. He slowly explains the barracks and temples and of course, she begs to see the temples. But his self-control only lasts so long.

After almost all of the temples have been thoroughly explored, he takes her to the Poseidon temple. As soon as she walks through the entryway, her face tips up and he sees that look on her face—the _beautiful_ look of awe as she takes it all in—and he breaks. He pushes her up against the wall and her legs latch around his waist as she slides up the wall from his insistent movements. His eager fingers that she's been missing for _forever _tease the edge of her shirt and dance along the skin there and she she lets out a moan mixed with a groan. This only makes him kiss her more and they would have stayed like that forever but they have to pry themselves apart for dinner.

Though, all during the meal, it seems like the couple is determined to make up for the lack of contact during the last 8 months. They constantly brush hands, knees, feet. He'll occasionally grab her free hand and pick it up to examine the lines, the scar she got when she cut her hand climbing, the one—he realizes with a pang of guilt and anger—that he missed. He missed the chance to kiss her hand better or to take care of her. He tightens his grip on her hand and they share a brief smile before they finish eating. Afterward, he hands her over to Hazel and Frank so he can give her a "surprise". Even though they know it's alright now, as soon as they part ways they begin to count the minutes and work on breathing in and out, simple things to keep their time occupied. He prepares the surprise as Hazel and Annabeth get to talk.

"He wasn't really whole y'know? I mean I barely know him, but the moment he saw you, it was like he was invincible." Hazel confides as she rests comfortably against Frank's chest, Annabeth notes jealously. It's only been an hour and she already feels the familiar ache of not being in his arms.

"He used to be invincible. He was dipped in the River Styx." They don't know this and so she relays the story and they discover that Nico is Hazel's brother and Percy's friend. But she leaves out the part when Percy told her she was his lifeline in the river. His words come flooding back and she smiles fondly.

_** "When I was at the River Styx, turning invulnerable...Nico said I had to concentrate on one thing that kept me anchored to the world, that made me want to stay mortal." **_

__"Annabeth?" Frank's voice snaps her out of it and she blushes as he repeats his question.

"His Achilles spot was right in the middle of his lower back." She answers reluctantly, feeling like she has given away his biggest secret even though it doesn't matter now. She points to the spot and her shirt sleeve rides up and they spot the scar that trails down her arm. They ask about it and she answers truthfully.

"I was stabbed by a camper that sided with Kronos in the Titan War." They look shocked but urge me on. "Ethan—the camper—he was actually aiming for Percy but he was going to hit him in his Achilles spot. He didn't know about it but it would have been the luckiest shot in the world. I didn't eve know about it either. I just—" She breaks off because Hazel's eyes have filled with tears and they remind her of when his eyes had looked the same in the hotel when he had asked her why she had taken the knife. It was at that moment, she thinks, when she truly loved him.

They switch to brighter topics though and she pretends like she has no idea that Percy is trying to sneak up on her. The last time he tried to sneak up on her, he landed face first in the dirt with a knife to his throat. She swore over and over that it was an accident and that she was sorry but he never did it again. So when he does creep up and places his hands over her eyes, she grins so wide that she's sure she looks stupid. But to Percy, she looks the total opposite of stupid. He relishes every second he gets with her, now more than he did 8 months ago. He leads her to the tent he has set up under a grove of trees with the help of Leo and Piper who he desperately hopes aren't still using it as a make out venue like they were when he left to get Annabeth. Pulling her into the—thankfully—empty tent, he uncovers her eyes and she slowly spins around in his embrace trying to figure out why they're in a tent.

"They don't let campers sleep in the same barracks," 'Not that it's any different at camp.' he thinks to himself, "but I was thinking that maybe, if you want to, you could sleep in here with me, not sleeping together! I mean, we'd be sleeping together but not _together _together. I mean, not that I don't want to, but I..." She cuts him off by hugging him tightly and he feels her tears soak the front of his shirt. He kneels and pulls her closer to him.

"It's okay. I didn't mean to sound so stupid. I just got nervous and started blabbering and you know how I get when—"she puts her index finger over his mouth once again stopping the boy's flow of talking.

"You're such a Seaweed Brain. I'm not upset because of that, I'm crying because for a while, I didn't think I'd ever get to hear you start blabbering again and I didn't know how much I missed it until now. It's like you're real now." He kisses her softly murmuring his promise that he's real and all this is real, and once they convince themselves with the continued words, embraces, and kisses, the two demigods crawl into sleeping bags and sleep, not knowing until that second they looked at each other and hurriedly combined the sleeping bags so they could hold each other that this was the moment that they had waited 8 months for. Because their love isn't just one moment, it's _moments _that build upon each other and remind them why they fell in love in the first place.


End file.
